


Wait, A.J.'s in the hospital? Again?

by LisaMills



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hospitalization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 16:28:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4443446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LisaMills/pseuds/LisaMills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay, everyone, this is my first work being posted on any Internet thing. I like to use OCs, so you can imagine my anxiety because of putting her with my Marvel FanFics. Andrea Josephine "A.J." Thorne is a firefighter for the FDNY, and ironically enough, she's basically a fire bender (in the fanfics, she's Inhuman.) and is good friends with Steve, and Bucky has always been kinda soft on her since they got to know each other.<br/>Kind of a set up for this work: A.J. was visiting a friend when the building caught fire. She got badly burned and sent to the hospital. Bucky, being listed as her next of kin, was the first person to be notified. It basically picks up there - I hope you enjoy it! </p><p>-LisaMills</p><p>P.S. All names in the story are purely fictional, and I don't own Marvel or the characters Bucky and Steve. So...yeah. I don't know if I'm actually required to disclaim or not, but...yeah.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wait, A.J.'s in the hospital? Again?

Bucky Barnes was working out when he got the call – A.J. was in an accident. Bucky was actually surprised he was the first one notified. He initially thought Steve would’ve been called first. She was currently in surgery being treated for severe burns on her arms and back. She had also suffered a surprisingly small amount of smoke inhalation; and the doctors actually weren’t entirely sure of how well she’d recover.  
Steve was with Sam at the V.A. when Bucky called.  
“Bucky, what’s going on?” He asked.  
“Uh, Steve, it’s uh…” Bucky sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s A.J.; she’s been hurt, and um, she’s in surgery. She was involved in a fire at Mark’s apartment, and I think you should be here with me.” He walked down the hallway looking for an information desk. “I’m at Mercy General. Please just get here, Steve. Andrea’s been hurt bad.”  
Steve was already on his way out. “You know she hates it when you call her Andrea, Buck,” he chuckled. “I’ll make sure to call you when I get there – should take just a few minutes.” He hung up the phone, mounted his motorcycle and took off to Mercy General. Sure enough, he and Bucky met up a few minutes later at the information desk. They soon learned where A.J. was, and which doctor was operating on her. Within minutes, they were standing by the window to the O.R., where A.J. was getting some rather sizeable skin grafts on her back, which would surely scar over parts of her phoenix tattoo.  
“Do we know what started the fire?” Steve asked Bucky.  
“I don’t – I mean, I haven’t spoken to the police or the fire department yet. I just got here as fast as I could, because, I mean…” he shrugged. “I just wanted to be here for her, ya know?” He looked at his best friend and half-shrugged.  
Steve smiled and gave Bucky a reassuring pat on the back. “I’ll get us some coffee – be right back.”  
Bucky nodded and looked back through the window. The doctors were in the middle of patching up part of her lower back, when he noticed how many scars were already on her body. He knew she had them – occupational hazard. She was a firefighter, and sometimes she’d get burned – but he had never really paid much attention to them until now. He saw one near the nape of her neck that looked fairly old, and now she’d have two or three more burn scars near that same area. He couldn’t figure out why he was so worried – he’d seen A.J. get hurt before, once by his hand, even. Why was he so worried now? And why is he put down as her next of kin?  
Steve came back with two cups of coffee and handed one to Bucky. They both simultaneously took a sip and looked on through the window for a few more minutes before a nurse approached them.  
“Steve?”  
Steve looked back. It was Emmy, one of A.J.’s best friends since grade school.  
“Emmy, hey,” he smiled as he awkwardly hugged her. “How’ve you been?”  
“I’ve been good – what are you doing here?”  
“You didn’t hear? Um, it’s A.J., she’s in there right now getting skin grafts.”  
“Oh, my goodness!” she covered her mouth and looked in the window. “What happened?”  
Bucky turned from the window and looked at Emmy. “Emmy? I’m Bucky Barnes, a, uh, friend of A.J.’s – I believe we’ve met before.”  
Emmy looked at Bucky for a few seconds. “…oh! Of course, Bucky. Um, why is she in surgery? What happened to A.J.?”  
“All we know right now is that she was involved in a fire, and she was badly burned getting civilians out of the building. Most of the burns are on her back and arms, and she got a little smoke in her lungs, but, uh, they’re working on her. She should be okay.” He looked back at the window. “She’ll pull through.”  
Emmy smiled. “That’s A.J. for you – always getting herself in trouble. But she’s one of the toughest people I’ve ever known, and I had three older brothers. She’ll be fine.” She looked at the two men standing by her. “So, uh,” she blushed a little at Steve, then cleared her throat. “Um, so have you talked to the fire department? Or the police?”  
Steve almost stuttered. “Um, well, we haven’t actually…”  
“We came straight here as soon as we heard she was in surgery. We haven’t given ourselves the chance to talk to anyone else involved in the fire,” Bucky interrupted, fully aware of Steve’s apparent timidity with attractive people.  
Just then, A.J.’s surgeon, Dr. Kelly, stepped out of the O.R. and pulled down his face mask. He looked at Emmy and smiled. “Miss Johnson, would you mind helping Dr. Harrison with post-op?”  
“Of course, Doctor,” she replied. She quickly said goodbye to Steve and Bucky as she went into the O.R.  
“Now,” Dr. Kelly removed his glasses. “Which of you young gentlemen is James Barnes?” Bucky awkwardly raised his right hand. “Mr. Barnes, my name is Dr. Jackson Kelly; there in the O.R. is Doctor Jane Harrison – she’s the best dermatologist at this hospital. Um, now, you’re listed as next of kin. How do you know Andrea?”  
“We’re friends – we live in the same building. And I know her well enough to know she hates being called Andrea,” Bucky chuckled. “So, Dr. Kelly, what’s the verdict?”  
“The skin grafts were a success, although I imagine she’ll be upset about her tattoo – it’ll be at least a year or so before she can even think of getting any ink retouched. The next few hours are pretty crucial; she’ll be out of it for a while.”  
“But she’ll be okay?” Bucky asked with a slight shiver in his voice.  
Dr. Kelly smiled. “Yes, we believe she’ll be fine. Uh, she might vomit when she first wakes up, but that’s normal. Some of the smoke she inhaled didn’t make it all the way out, so she’ll have to cough it up.”  
Bucky and Steve both smiled and gave a huge sigh of relief at the good news. They both shook hands with Dr. Kelly just before Emmy and one other nurse wheeled A.J. out of the O.R.; following A.J. was Dr. Harrison. She looked right at Bucky and started talking to him.  
“Mr. Barnes, I’m sure my colleague has already informed you that Miss Thorne will be okay. I’ll be in contact with both of you…pretty much from now on until her scars heal. Although the skin grafts were done correctly, there’s still going to be some scarring – some of which reached into her ink, which I’m sure she’ll give me a piece of her mind about that,” she explained and chuckled.  
“So you already know A.J.?” Bucky asked.  
“Yes, she and I have known each other for about…15 years now? First time I saw her as a patient was during the 9/11 attacks. That was actually her third call as a firefighter.”  
Steve looked into the operating room, watching the people clean up after the mess A.J. made. “So you were even there when she got her tattoos?” he thought out loud.  
Dr. Harrison laughed. “Yes, even though I strongly advised against it, she went and got her ink done up anyway. It looked good, but she had just finished therapy that year.”  
After a few more minutes of discussing A.J.’s all-too-apparent stubbornness, Dr. Kelly offered Steve, Bucky, Emmy, and Dr. Harrison to wait in the lobby until A.J. got all set up in her recovery room. They drank coffee and talked about life in New York, and Doctors Kelly and Harrison both kept bringing up their medical fascinations with both Steve and Bucky. Of course, it soon became awkward for both super soldiers, so Emmy started asking normal questions like: “Is it true you can’t get drunk?” or “How much weight can you hold above your head before getting tired?” and the guys were perfectly fine with that.  
Eventually, Bucky stopped talking once Emmy ultimately turned her attention to Steve, and the doctors had other patients to see. So, Bucky Barnes went out to the nearest vending machine, bought a water bottle, and quietly made his way into A.J. Thorne’s room. He found a chair by her bed, pulled it up to him so it’s not too close to her, and sat down next to the sleeping firefighter. There were no magazines in the room (like he’d actually read them) but he just sat there, noticing all the little things about A.J. that always intrigued him – the faint freckles near her nose, her natural light brown hair starting to show at the roots underneath colored black hair, her bright red lipstick starting to fade, even the scar he gave her just above her collarbone – he never realized how much she’d been through in her life.  
After a few minutes, when Bucky noticed Steve taking Emmy to get another cup of coffee, he decided to scoot his chair a little closer, hold A.J.’s hand, and talk to her.  
“Okay, Andrea,” he smiled as he gently grasped left hand with his right. “Andrea Josephine, I certainly hope you can hear me, because I want to see the look on your face when you wake up and realize I didn’t call you A.J. just now. But, uh, whew, umm…” he chuckled, “I’m not very good at this. You know I’m not the most…open? Yeah. I’m not the most open person. When I came back to New York with nothing on me except my knife and my handgun, the first thing we did was try to kill each other – or, rather, I tried to kill you. But once I started putting the pieces together, and discerning, ya know, memories from nightmares, you were there when I was up at night screaming.”  
Bucky took a breath. “And then when we started getting to know each other, we somehow managed to become friends. I opened up to you in a way that I haven’t done since Steve found me. And all I can do now is just thank you. So you’d better wake up pretty soon…because I am running out of things to say…” he laughed at himself. “It’s so strange, A.J., there’s something about you, and…I don’t know what it is, but…let’s just say I haven’t felt this way about anyone in a very long time; and I can’t shake the feeling that you might…” He stopped suddenly.  
A.J.’s heart monitor started beeping just a tad faster. She started shaking her head until she forced herself to roll over. Almost immediately, she vomited about two feet away from Bucky. Of course, Bucky freaked out a little and immediately called for a nurse. As soon as A.J. quit blowing chunks all over the room, she started screaming in pain. While the nurse tried to clean up the mess, Bucky carefully tried to restrain A.J. before she burned someone – or herself.  
“Hey, hey, hey! Andrea! Hey!!” Bucky attempted to grab her attention. “It’s me, it’s James! It’s Bucky, I’m here, A.J.”  
It took a few seconds for A.J.’s leafy green eyes to lock onto Bucky’s baby blues; but when they did, she stopped screaming. Then the waterworks started. She saw Bucky, those sad, old blue eyes, and started to cry. Her skin was in so much pain, and for once, she couldn’t push the pain back; and now her throat felt dry and gross from throwing up, so she felt even worse than she actually was. When she started to actually wake up and gather her feelings together, she very slowly laid back in her bed and closed her eyes.  
Bucky sat down in his chair and grabbed the water bottle. “Good evening, Miss Thorne.”  
A.J. kept her eyes closed, but smiled. “Good evening, Sgt. Barnes.” She wanted to laugh, but her stomach hurt too much. “I hope you got that for me,” she joked.  
“Actually, I did,” he replied as he opened the bottle and handed it to her.  
“Um, Bucky? I kinda can’t move my arms right now. I know you don’t like it, but you’re gonna have to help me out here.” They both chuckled a little as Bucky carefully nursed A.J. with a bottle of water. “So what did I miss? Have Steve and Emmy hooked up yet?”  
Bucky almost spit his water out. “What are you talking about?”  
“I’m just saying, they need to go out already. I figure since I’m over here getting half my skin replaced, they might be by the coffee shop failing at trying to flirt with each other.” When she saw Bucky’s confused look she replied, “Yes, Bucky. I intentionally started a fire so I could burn myself, screw up my ink, and vomit right next to you just so Steve and Emmy could get a chance to hang out – because those are the lengths to which I go to get my friends together.” When Bucky started laughing, A.J. tried hard not to. She just smiled and admired how his eyes seemed to light up just a touch when he laughed.  
After Doctors Kelly and Harrison came in and lectured her on therapy and medications, Steve and Emmy stopped by to check on A.J. and maybe pick on her a little.  
“Hey listen, guys,” A.J. finally announced. “I know you guys waited up for me, and I love you all, but I’d rather just rest right now. You can come back in the morning.” Everyone understood, and Bucky held the door for everyone. When he was about to leave, A.J. stopped him. “Bucky, wait…can I talk to you real quick?”  
“Uh, sure. Um,” he shut the door and sat back down. “What’s going on?”  
A.J. slowly and painfully sat up. “Okay, I want you to listen to me. I heard everything.”  
“Uh,” Bucky started blushing. “What do you mean?”  
“Before I threw up all over the place, I heard you talking to me. I could feel you hold my hand, and…I could feel your heartbeat get faster when you said there was something about me, and your hand started shaking a little when you mentioned how we were when we first met.”  
“A.J., I…”  
“Shh, just, for once I actually want you to not talk,” A.J. chuckled. “I want you to know that I heard everything. And,” she cleared her throat, “And I also want you to know, that if I had the strength, I’d lean over and kiss you right now.”  
Bucky sat back and smiled. He smiled as if he’d just seen the stars for the first time, and someone was showing him all the different constellations. In fact, he smiled so much he started laughing. He finally stood up.  
“Well,” he almost whispered as he leaned towards her. “I’m not gonna let a few bandages get in our way.”  
“Um, excuse me, Mr. Barnes?” a nurse came in and interrupted. “Visiting hours are over; I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.” He held the door open, waiting for Bucky to walk out.  
Bucky and A.J. both sighed of disappointment and chuckled a little. It was probably better if they didn’t kiss now, especially since A.J. was still recovering from burn scars, skin grafts and vomiting everywhere.  
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, A.J.,” Bucky guessed as he gently kissed her forehead.  
“Of course,” she smiled. “Oh, and Bucky?”  
“Yeah?”  
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I heard everything. As soon as I can easily move my arms again, your ass is going down for calling me Andrea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed my very first work posted here on AO3!! Please let me know if there's anything I could've done better (grammar, structure, etc.) because I'd really appreciate feedback! And while I ask for feedback, I also please ask you to not hate on my OC or how I characterized everyone in the story. The way I see it, fanfiction is open to interpretation, and I'm good with that.  
> Anyway...thanks for reading! 
> 
> -LisaMills


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